La Verdad is running an interview with Eligio Cedeño in two parts here and here. Following is a full translation of the transcript.
On Monday, November 30, President Chávez announced that the government was conducting a closed-door intervention with Banco Confederado, Banco Bolivar, Banpro and Banco Canarias. That same day, President Chávez announced the liquidation of the last two and the transferal of them into the public financing system. The owner of this group of financial institutions, Ricardo Fernández Barrueco, is under arrest, according to local Disip authorities, but so far nobody has been able to confirm this.
On Friday, Finance Minister Ali Rodríguez announced another decision. Sudebán - the Superintendency of Banks - conducted a closed-door intervention with Central Banco Universal, Banco Real and Baninvest. The owners of these banks were Pedro Torres Ciliberto and Arné Chacón, brother of the Minister of Science, Technology and Industry, Jesse Chacón. Since Saturday afternoon Chacón, the banker, has been held by the Disip.
While this has been happening, for two years and ten months, Eligio Cedeño, former vice president of Banco Canarias, has been held in jail without any substantiation of his guilt or innocence regarding "a fraudulent transaction," - as he explains it - in which he is accused of being involved in. To date, the Foreign Exchange Administration Commission (Cadivi) validated a request by a client of Banco Canarias - who acted as intermediary - and Cedeño wound being blamed for all of it, from start to finish.
Cedeno spoke with La Verdad and explains that there is not one fact that has been asked of him which he has not delivered. "We have taken it upon ourselves to document and disseminate the abuses against me, ranging from violations of due process, fabricated charges, harassing defense lawyers, refusal of medical treatment, suspension of judges and prosecutors for acting in accordance with the laws and, last but not least, attacks on my individual character." He explains his case and why he is considered one of 32 political prisoners in Venezuela.
La Verdad: What happened for the government to decide against you? Why didn't this fall on the president of Cadivi?
Eligio Cedeño: I ask that question every day. Why has Cadivi, which authorised the dollars, not been investigated? Why the cruelty against me? Why the procedural violations? Why have others who have been accused of similar crimes been judged in freedom while I am denied this basic legal right? That inequity is precisely what defines me as a political prisoner. Why I am a political prisoner? Those are the questions I and my loved ones ask ourselves every day! But we should remember that these rights violations are not decreed.
La Verdad: Have you ever tried to defend yourself with evidence?
EC: There is no piece of evidence that, upon being requested of us, we have failed to deliver. Perhaps less known is that during the process we have been denied a defense motion to accept expert witnesses who can explain my ordinary duties in the financial operations within the banking world, who can demonstrate that my personal conduct was in accordance with the rules of the bank in which I worked.
La Verdad: Are you a prisoner of Cadivi?
EC: I'm a prisoner of the government of President Chávez. The Cadivi situation was merely a pretext. The fraudulent operation they involved me in is the government's allocation of dollars toward preferred imports of computer equipment by a customer of the bank in which I worked. It is public, blatant, legal and obvious that the entity responsible for validating applications to Cadivi is Cadivi. Banks operate as financial intermediaries and that was my role as vice president of the bank. Curiously, the allegations presented by my lawyers, which successfully demonstrated that preferential allocation of foreign currency should be investigated in Cadivi, since it was the one who awarded the allocations, have been overlooked by the prosecution.
La Verdad: You were a businessman, do you think that's why they attacked you? Have you ever demonstrated a reaction against the government that could give them grounds to detain you?
EC: The highest levels of government have said I financed activities of opposition members. These are assumptions and beliefs that are without validation. The attacks against me are part of the strategy of the highest levels of government. Since no one can prove that I am guilty of the crimes of which they accuse me, they try to destroy me morally. This attitude is typical of those who are wrong and practice intimidation with lies. I am still an entrepreneur who creates, provides and fights for our country. I believe in democracy, freedom and friendship. I have friends in the opposition and have been faithful to the value of those friendships.
La Verdad: What was it that actually happened? What is your version of events that Venezuelan justice does not consider?
EC: High government officials have said that Eligio Cedeño is being held on suspicion that he helped Carlos Ortega escape from jail and Patricia Poleo to leave the country. The truth of the matter is that my imprisonment, during which time I have not been afforded one fair trial for almost three years, is proof that powerful political connections manage the judicial system. What is certain and objectively true is that Cadivi granted preferential dollars to an importer, who through Banco Canarias performed the transaction in question and that Eligio Cedeño represented the bank in the execution of that transaction. The importer accused of failing to actually import the merchandise. The accusation against Eligio Cedeño would mean that all banks are liable before the law of any alleged crimes their customers commit.
La Verdad: Have you had business dealings with the government?
EC: In this country, where the government owns the oil revenues, it is very typical to conduct business where the government has a presence. Within the bank, buying government bonds is a daily activity, those were the only institutional relationships that are maintained, always within the framework allowed by law.
La Verdad: Are you expecting a positive response from Venezuelan justice or are you resigned to fact that while President Chávez is in power Venezuela's political prisoners will remain in prison?
EC: A democratic society, as well as respect for human rights, is characterised by the separation of powers, which in Venezuela is a sort of simulated caricature. Being a prisoner of the government of President Chávez, what chance do I have that justice will be served? Anyone who is unjustly imprisoned dreams of justice in Venezuela and I sometimes have this dream. I have appealed to international bodies that have expressed concern about the need for independence of the judiciary in Venezuela. I struggle between the rationality of understanding reality and the dream of justice when my judgment day comes.
La Verdad: How can what you just described come to fruition?
EC: To combat political authoritarianism, violations of human rights, the lack of democracy and the abuse of the judicial system, the best path is denouncing injustice and permanent mobilisation. Recall that the Berlin Wall fell 20 years ago without firing a shot. Only public awareness and their desire for freedom and democracy can develop the type of government that Venezuelans need and deserve.
La Verdad: Is there democracy in Venezuela, where 32 political prisoners remain in prison?
EC: Living and learning firsthand how justice is handled in our country, not only in my case, but those of other fellow prisoners: sheriffs, police, students, journalists, workers in general; violations of fundamental human rights, without whose respect a society can not be described as democratic. When you are sure of innocence, the prison generates a moral strength in the unjustly imprisoned and condemned. The essential support is the confidence of those who know us and the support of the citizenry that from the outside has sympathised with the cause for which we have become political prisoners.
La Verdad: What happened with the change of dates for your release?
EC: What is plain needs no explanation. Considering the actions of the judges and prosecutors, I suspect they were pressured. Recall that the professional career paths of these officers depend on abiding by such "suggestions and recommendations". Authoritarian governments maintain a false belief that they will be in power forever, so they act without restrictions and with total impunity.
La Verdad: Has your lawyer asked what the political interest is in your case? Do you think there is political interest and why?
EC: This is obvious. I am the equivalent to the canary in the coalmine. It is newsworthy for the government to say, "I have a banker in prison." The real reasons appear to be in the beliefs of a few very powerful people. All the abuses and rights violations to which I have been subjected are not free.
La Verdad: Is there justice in Venezuela?
EC: In Venezuela today the laws are references only apply to whomever the government chooses. Without judicial independence there can be no justice. How do you explain the dozens of political prisoners jailed without trial, the criminalisation of protests, the thousands of people required to appear periodically before provisional judges, the hundreds of annual deaths caused by prison violence, the thousands killed in the absence of government, the insecurity resulting from the impunity with which organised crime operates in the country, while corruption swarms in the upper echelons of government and its patronage network without anything happening?
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